^^ This It isn't so much the resource nodes in an area, so much as being able to scavenge off of defeated enemies. You essentially 'double-dip'. If you defeat a droid, it could drop some loot. After you pick it up, if you have the scavenging skill you can scavenge the droid for its metal. Defeated enemies are FAR more common that a node sitting off in a corner. Pew, then pillage. It's the new Galactic dream.

I'm going the same route, based on playing beta and how broke I was when it came time to buy my speeder at level 25. Leveling up slicing can be profitable, so there's no worry about sending your companion out on those missions. The most common items to gather in the field is scavenging and bioanalysis since MANY of the enemies you will encounter will be either droid or beast. Scavenging/Bioanalysis/Slicing It's probably the most lucrative way to go, at least until you have your speeder out of the way and have credits to spend.

It's every 20 skill points. Happens like clockwork.

Many thanks for all the positive comments. It's pretty much the only thing that's getting me by until my early access comes around.

Slicing is the only way to get them. If you take a look at the slicing mission list in torhead, you'll see that some missions give you the chance to aquire augments. Don't know if it is guaranteed or if you need to hit your critical roll to obtain one.

All crafting materials are in there. Even if you don't need a material to fast track your skill to 400....if the material is even mentioned in ONE recipe, I included it in the list for the crafting skill.

They are all 'mods' but they go in different slots on a weapon or piece of armor. Every armor piece COULD have the following mod slots available for mods: An Armoring mod slot An Enhancement mod slot A 'Mod' mod slot An Augment or 'Modulator' mod slot and yes, weapons can use some of these mod categories too: A melee weapon will have a hilt mod, along with A Color Crystal An Enhancement mod slot A 'Mod' mod slot An Augment or 'Modulator' mod slot Ranged weapons have the same setup, substituting a barrel for a hilt mod.

For what it's worth: If you're thinking about going Artifice or Synthweaving for your crafting skill, then go Archeology, Scavenging, and Bioanalysis to start. Any other crafting skill go Slicing/Scavenging/Bioanalysis. Here's my theory: Gathering in the field costs NOTHING. The more you explore planets, the more free materials you are going to come across just lying around the battlefield. You can only aquire these goodies if you have the proper gathering skill. This combo covers most of your bases. You end up with gobs of materials. Some will be related to the crafting skill you'll eventually select. Some of it won't be. You can sell that on the Galactic Trade Network for a tidy profit. You can also drop that gathering skill, and then pickup your crafting skill of choice. To determine if you have enough material on-hand to level your crafting skill from 1 to 400, use this spreadsheet: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=5432 You may find you have some excess, or some material you don't need at all. Again, you can sell this on the GTN for profit. In the end you'll end up with a mission skill, crafting skill, and a gathering skill that will become your bread and butter. But while you're leveling up it MAY be better to play it cheap, collect materials for free and get credits for them until you have a better idea which crafting direction you wish to pursue.

You got me. And since it was an internship program....I didn't have to pay him.

Investigation has been credited with producing rare schematics for all crafting types. Slicing has been credited with unlocking high level missions for all mission skills (This is especially true for Treasure Hunting, where most of the 400 skill level missions are unlocked by obtaining the mission through slicing). Don't know about Underworld Trading. Can't say yes or no on that one.

Complete raw material list, yes. If even one recipe uses it, it's in there. That's going to be a pain in the butt. However that's a fantastic idea. I'll see what I can do about linking to torhead.

The crafting materials now have hyperlinks in them that link directly to torhead. This feature will allow you view exactly what mission can help you aquire a particular material. Thanks to Harvist for the suggestion. Version 1.2 is now live as of January 19, 2012. Material requirements are essentially halved based on getting 2 crafting XP points for every recipe you run. Remember to run the highest recipes you have access to in order to ensure you get 2 XP. This is denoted by the orange circle next to the recipe name on your crafting screen. Yellow and Green circles do not always net you 2 XP, so be careful. Also added a notes and tips page, just to clarify some things about the spreadsheet.

During the beta and during this agonizing wait to get into the game and start playing, I figured on diving into the crafting system. No matter what crafting skill you go with (Armormech, Armstech, Artifice, Biochem, Cybertech, Synthwaving) you're going to need materials. Lots and lots of materials. This spreadsheet shows you the 'quickest' way to get to a skill level of 400. By quickest I mean using the least amount of materials, while at the same time getting the most XP in the process. In the future I plan to add to the spreadsheet, either in the way of new features or just notes and tips based on questions I may get in this thread. Anyway I hope this is some use to the community, and when you get in...enjoy the game. Two versions of the same file. One is 8 MBs and has graphics to dress it up a bit. The other is a bare bones version and is less than 1 MB. http://www.4shared.com/file/9dKAzyz2/SWTOR_Crafting_Guide.html http://www.4shared.com/file/fZx3VKW7/SWTOR_CG_GraphicLite.html Google Docs Version: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ApFZQPDxUk6WdHpfRVd3Z2l6Z2w3VlhDOGltOEMwY0E